A/N: Time jump to 2165.
I am planning to post a companion piece to Space Race entitled Space Race for Dummies. By the time this chapter is posted it should already be up. The first chapter will be [Galactic Fleets (2165): Asari, Turians, USSR, Raachok and Atavira] and subsequent chapters will have extra information about technology, characters and locations in the Space Race universe.
On another note, this story is now popular enough (200+ followers) for me to warrant commissioning a piece of cover art. If any of you guys reading this are arty please take the time to make some artwork for the story and email it to me at ivanragnarov yahoo .co .uk along with your Steam account name and your preference out of the following: Gratuitous Space Battles, Endless Space or Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion. The winners will receive their preferred game as payment for the use of their art. Runner up also gets their preferred game and their art is used for Space Race for Dummies. If you don't have Steam, stop whatever you're doing and go get it. Start scribbling!
###
Garrus Vakarian stood in front of the class, nervously shifting from foot to foot.
"What I did in my holiday."
The eyes of nineteen bored Turian children bored into his skull.
"I went to stay with my friend Lizzie on Earth."
At the mention of Earth the kids sat up and took notice. The Hierarchy's almost rabid pro-Earth stance notwithstanding, anything coming out of the Earth bloc was eagerly snapped up by Turian youth. As an example, six of the room's occupants were wearing distinctively Human leather jackets tailored for Turians, shunning the peacock colours of Turian fashion in favour of the more muted grayscale of Human attire. The funny part was in his time on Earth he had seen Humans wearing all sorts of brightly coloured clothing. It seemed like the Goth fashion, as Lizzie called it, was export only. Garrus himself was wearing a shirt he had received for Christmas, a plain white short sleeved garment with Human words emblazoned across the chest in black and the image of an antiquated pistol lying on a table next to a red flower of some sort.
"On Earth there was a celebration called Christmas while I was there."
He cued his Omnitool to show a picture of him standing next to Lizzie in a snow covered street, his arm around her shoulders as they leaned against an enormous snowman with sticks stuck into its head that crudely resembled the fringe and mandibles of a Turian.
"Christmas is a very confusing time. There's lots of different things people do. They put up these trees inside their houses and decorate them with lights and these little round things, and then they buy presents for each other and put them under the tree."
Cueing his Omnitool again, the image switched to Lizzie curled up on the sofa in hysterics as Cadmus knelt down and tweaked the lights on the Christmas tree, not noticing Garrus winding a piece of tinsel round his dad's fringe. The whole class laughed at the picture.
"Some of them worship this man who lived a long time ago on Earth, back even before the unification war. The man was called Jesus and he sacrificed himself to save the whole Human species from evil spirits."
Approving nods from his friends. Even from a young age Turians learned to appreciate sacrifice for the greater cause. He changed the image over to Ayi posing in a disgustingly garish jumper with a picture of a fat Human in a red suit riding a vehicle pulled by some form of mammalian quadrupred.
"This is my mom's friend Ayi Muale. She's an Atavira commando who fought with my mom on Shanxi. The jumper she's wearing has a picture of another god they worship called Santa Claus. They say he flies round the galaxy in a single night delivering gifts to every child. I reckon those animals are actually disguised HR motors but Lizzie called them," he frowned and made sure he had enough air in his lungs to grunt the English word, "Rain Dears. Also she said everyone except little children knows he isn't real but they trick their children into believing it. I'm not really sure how it works, it seems dumb to me."
The next picture was him and Lizzie smiling and thumbs-upping next to a missile wider than both of them stacked end to end.
"The day after Christmas Lizzie's mother, who is the executive officer of a ship called the USS Johnson, took us to look round the ship. This big rocket is a nuclear bomb big enough to blow up a dreadnought in two shots."
Gasps of amazement from the class. He switched the picture again, this time bringing up a picture of an enormous dome, Lizzie and Hannah standing in front of it wearing T-shirts very similar to the one he was wearing now.
"On the last day we went to a concert and heard lots of bands playing old Human music called rock music. That's where I got this shirt. It's from an old band called Guns and Roses. I learned to say some words in English too, which is the main language they speak in the USA."
He pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth and drew his mandibles in close before grunting out a short phrase.
"That means 'My name is Garrus and I live on Palaven'. So ... yeah."
###
Tevos was having a very bad day. She had thought she finally was able to forget about the AI issue but suddenly it was back with a vengeance. And this time she was on the losing side.
Ikksi had regrettably passed away about three months ago and the new Salarian councillor, Drassa, came down hard on the opposite side of the AI debate. With him and Luceius backing each other up, she was slowly yet inexorably starting to lose ground.
Her one saving grace was that Drassa and Luceius also didn't see eye to eye, each one coming down either side of her on their opinion of the Earth races. Where Luceius sometimes seemed like he wished he was a Human and she advocated cautious coexistence, Drassa prescribed to the uncommon philosophy of us against them. He was far more aggressive in his dealings with the Earth races than his predecessor, causing a noticeable downturn in trade between the Salarian Union and the Earth bloc. There was talk of replacing him among the Dalatrasses and the Hierarchy's opinion of him really couldn't go any lower but the Earth races seemed willing to tolerate him.
Of course, she saw right through the ploy. Drassa would remain in power just long enough for him and Luceius to complete their pro-AI agenda, then documents detailing his corrupt activities would come to light. The STG, under instructions from a handful of pro-Earth Dalatrasses, wouldn't examine the documents too closely using their SAPIENS anti-AI cybersecurity system and lo and behold, Drassa would find himself in a cozy mansion on Sur'Kesh under 'enforced retirement'. She had it figured out and there was nothing she could do about it. Crafty bastards.
###
Drassa nodded at the holoprojection of Alan as he swung himself into his armchair. Even for his sharp mind, the levels of intrigue were building up. Luckily he had Alan to help him keep track of things.
The plan was deceptively simple. He would take a pro AI stance, yet claim to be hostile to the Earth bloc, keep Tevos hung up over attempting to exploit a nonexistent division between him and Luceius. Then as soon as the anti AI laws had been repealed he would retire in favour of his clutch-brother Vessal who would be openly supportive of the Earth races, hopefully drawing them in to share their technology. If the Union got their hands on the technology of the Earth races it could shift the balance of power in the galaxy in their favour, hopefully cutting the Asari out of the loop altogether. With them out, the Union might have some real influence, as opposed to the Council being composed of the Asari councillor and her two subordinates. Alan was right. The Republics had become far too comfortable on top of the pile.
###
It was so close. He could practically taste it.
When Alan had explained the plan to him he had roared in laughter at the sheer audacity of what the AI was planning. Team up with the new Salarian councillor to dupe the Asari councillor while duping the new Salarian councillor? Beautiful!
Luceius was a military man. His mind worked in straight lines. Yet he could feel the thrill of engaging in a game of political intrigue. The Salarian and the Asari could both think circles around him, just pointing the Turians at any problem they couldn't talk or spy their way out of. But with Alan on his side the tables were turned.
He was lucky that the AIs shared his agenda. Unite the Earth races with the Council under Human/Turian rule, then turn their fleets on the parts of the galaxy they all hated. Subjugate the Terminus, crush the Hegemony, slaughter every slaver, free every slave. That was his aim. And he would be remembered as half of the duo with the vision to transform the galaxy into someplace better.
###
As experiments go, this one had its perks.
Rael'Zorah had left on his pilgrimage eight years ago. His pilgrimage was probably pushing records for the longest pilgrimage ever. He still had three years left of it. But he was going to return with the pilgrimage gift to end all pilgrimage gifts.
When he was approached by three Raachok seven years ago he had expected to be beaten up or shot by AI lovers. Instead try had made him an offer he literally couldn't refuse.
In all there were about eighty pilgrims involved in the programme, all highly trained and well equipped, aboard eight Shanghai-class raiders. The USSR called them the Privateers.
The premise was simple. Hit squads to go places Earth ships couldn't normally venture, do the jobs they couldn't. Take out a target, steal an item, the Privateers had done it all. And people still didn't know they existed. The catch? The Privateers were a joint effort between the Quarian pilgrims and Geth units. So why would any Quarian agree to this? Simple. At the end of their ten year service the Quarian Privateers would return to the Migrant fleet, all eighty of them presenting as a joint pilgrimage gift a single item and a promise.
The item would be a branch from a jovona tree. And the promise would be the opportunity to resettle Rannoch. The reason for the Privateers was to prove that the Quarians and the Geth could co-operate. And co-operate they did.
At the moment Rael had just finished co-operating with a particularly cute young girl called Kleeah'Madan nar Neema. The entirety of the ship's interior was a clean zone, meaning that they didn't need to worry about infection, something the couple regularly took advantage of. They had just made a clean getaway after taking out a merc leader on Omega and were in the mood to celebrate.
Kleeah curled into his side, mumbling contentedly as he pulled the sheets over their entangled forms. One of his three fingered hands stroked up and down her spine, making her arch her back and purr in pleasure as his fingers worked their magic. She gently nibbled the tip of his pointed ear as her lips ghosted over his face.
"Up for round two, big boy?"
Rael felt a shudder of excitement at her sultry tone, rolling on top of her as she wrapped her legs around his waist, warm thighs inviting him in. One of Kleeah's hands brushed against his back, pulling her upper body closer to his and letting her head rock back as he slowly kissed along her neck.
"Mamma?"
They both collapsed, Rael burying his face in his partner's collarbone as he suppressed an exasperated groan. Kleeah shifted her lithe form to look at the locked door of the cabin and called out.
"What is it, sweetie?"
Outside the cabin, their two year old daughter Tali, dressed in a pair of flannel pyjamas and clutching her stuffed varren toy, looked up at the door with wide, scared eyes.
"I had bad dream, mamma."
From inside the room came the sound of shifting fabric, then the door opened and Kleeah appeared, scooping her daughter up into her arms.
"Don't be sad sweetie. It was just a silly dream."
She clutched at her mother's shirt with one hand, the other holding her varren close to her chest.
"I stay?"
Kleeah kissed her on the forehead.
"Of course you can."
###
Omega was an unforgiving place at the best of times. And now was not the best of times.
Aria bit back a curse as a cringing Batarian offered up the latest intel. Violence was a fact of life in the Terminus Systems but even for Omega this was big. A new gang had turned up on the station, a gang meaner and tougher than any other. They called themselves the Blue Suns and were making far more trouble than they were worth. Despite their policy of refusing to touch anything belonging to Aria, something she could definitely get behind, they were taking the usual lawless violence of the station and turning it into a warzone. They were just entering into the third month of their brutal turf war against the Blood Pack and despite the recent assassination of their head book-keeper, Vido Santiago, they were still maintaining their relentless pace.
They were led by the most ruthless bastard she had ever clapped eyes on, a grade A skullcrusher by the name of Zaeed Massani. The gang was predominantly Human and Atavira, with a significant number of Turian, Raachok and Seu'Seun members, a handful of Krogan, Asari and Salarians and even a few Quarian techs. Massani's anti-Batarian stance wasn't exactly earning him any friends on Omega but the man practically had an army of mercs at his disposal. Even more disturbingly, rumour had it that Massani even had a couple of AIs working for him.
The Suns were run with military precision, cutting through blood-crazed Krogan and imbecilic Vorcha with a level of efficiency that impressed even her. Only Garm's seemingly limitless supply of Vorcha and underhanded tactics prevented the war from becoming a rout.
The two sides were locked in stalemate. Aria knew she couldn't let the bloodbaths in the streets continue but she was well aware that the victor of the war would have far too much influence on her station. She needed to come up with a solution.
###
Zaeed bent over the holo of Omega on the Blue Suns command ship, an enormous converted Russian freighter called the SSV Jessie. His commanders crowded round the table with him, each in command of one of the companies deployed on Omega. He looked around at them. Two other Humans, two Atavira, one Raachok, one Seu'Seun, two Turians and a Krogan. He made sure his boys were loyal to more than credits. They were loyal to each other, and to him.
"The Pack have started a counterattack in the Gozu district, using their staging area in Tercvara district."
Taren Rantarius pointed to the display.
"The Vorcha are overextended. If we send squads through here we can hit their back."
Maeri Oliaru shook her head and flicked one of her long pointed ears.
"Garm has the place mined to shit waiting for us to try. We send our men in he'll blow up the whole thing. That's why there aren't any Krogan or vehicles."
Karrab Dan-Fay Ordikariy clicked quietly, compound eyes focused on the hologram, now zoomed in on the Gozu and Tercvara districts.
"There is another way. If we position one of our frigates here, and then drop heavy weapon and sniper teams at these locations, our infantry can lock down the entire area while the frigate's guns take out any gunships Garm sends to weed them out."
Taren frowned at the Seu'Seun crouched next to him.
"Aria's put up with our conflict so far. I reckon we could quickly lose her favour if one of our frigates started bombarding her station."
Karrab clicked his pincers together in annoyance.
"I hadn't thought of that."
Jentha Sorsdöttir sighed and gestured at the apartments.
"Besides, if Garm sent death squads through these buildings he could blindside our heavies. A Fire Hive strike ought to do the trick."
Karrab chuckled.
"If Aria won't like us bringing a single frigate in to shoot down some Pack gunships then she definitely won't appreciate us hitting an entire district with incendiary cluster bombs."
Zaeed sighed. Truth be told he was growing sick of pandering to that blue bitch. If it wasn't for her he could have simply bombed that wily shitstain Garm out of existence two months ago and be done with it. Between her and Garm he was starting to have one hell of a headache.
###
Liara heard a hiss as her suit sealed itself up, the oxygen tanks on the back feeding into the pressure suit and immersing her body. The Prothean ruins on Yarrow were in almost twenty atmospheres of water pressure, making pressure suits a must for the excavation team. She glanced across at one of her fellow archaeologists, a Human male called Alex Rushing.
"You ready, Blue?"
She frowned briefly. Despite the assurances that it was only in jest, she found her new nickname was uncomfortably close to azure, a common racial slur. But she didn't mind all that much. She was actually quite enjoying working with Alex's team, sponsored by the Prothean Museum. The Yarrow Domes, as the site was called, was the best preserved Prothean ruin Liara had ever visited, an enormous underwater city hidden beneath domes of reinforced alloy of some sort she had never seen before. Three of the seven domes were still intact, including the central dome which was used as a base of operations for the archaeology team.
"I'm ready."
The airlock cycled, filling the room with water then ramping up the pressure before allowing Liara and Alex to enter the water-filled corridor. They headed to Dome Six, one of the most heavily damaged domes. It was the first time she had been in the sixth dome.
Alex pushed open the door and immediately a turquoise beam swept over him, making Liara gasp in surprise. He shrugged at her.
"Don't worry, it's just a weapon scanner."
She narrowed her eyes.
"What about my biotic amp?"
Alex's face shifted into an 'oh shit' expression as the scanner swept over her. A single Prothean word grated out in their comm links before she felt herself yanked off her feet by an invisible force.
"Liara!"
She shrieked as an item at the far end of the room lit up turquoise. A Prothean beacon.
Suddenly something was being forced into her mind. An iron will, indomitable, clamping down on her head. Images flowed through her, images of fire and destruction, and then an awareness colder than any she could have experienced. Then everything went black.